


Payoff

by demishock



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Gen, IgNoct, Ignoct Week, M/M, ignoctweek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-12
Updated: 2018-02-12
Packaged: 2019-03-17 05:47:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13652682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/demishock/pseuds/demishock
Summary: Noctis has a long-standing debt to pay.





	Payoff

**Author's Note:**

> Written for ignoctweek over on tumblr, for the Day 6 prompt: "Childhood Promises."
> 
> I... don't even know, you guys. Send help. XD;
> 
> I wrote this with the vague intention of it fitting into a yet-nonexistent Verse 3 timeline that I want to see that combines my favorite elements of both the game's endings, but if you're going for canon compliance, it fits better into the original Verse 1 ending.

It was the way Ignis held his hand out for Noctis to clasp that made him remember.

Years ago: a silly promise from the mouth of a silly boy who didn't know any better.

"I don't get paid enough for this," Ignis had said - bold words from a boy so young, but something he'd heard plenty of adults say around a sigh when they were good and frustrated. And that day, he was certainly frustrated, having taken the blame for some cockamamie idea Noctis had come up with.

Noctis had patted him consolingly on the knee and promised, with all the seriousness a child his age could muster, "When I'm king, you will."

It had come up again and again over the years, threading its way through each of their seventeen years together before Noctis had been pulled into the Crystal to lose the last ten. And while Noctis had mostly stopped responding to Ignis's jabs about the lack of money he'd seen, and how much Noctis had come to owe him by now, he'd always had it in the back of his mind. He knew Ignis wasn't serious about it. Ignis had never cared a single whit about being paid for his services, and Noctis knew it.

But Noctis cared.

He always had.

It scared him sometimes, Ignis's devotion to him. In his teens, when he'd been mad at everything and everyone for the painful future he saw staring him in the face, he'd done obnoxious things to his advisor to see how much Ignis would put up with before he'd leave. But even their worst confrontation had lasted less than two days.

"Gods, Ignis. How much is my dad paying you to follow me around all day?" he'd groused once, feeling smothered by Ignis's constant care and attention.

"Noct…" Ignis had replied, in that way of his that was both infinitely patient and clearly tired of Noctis's shit.

Noctis had persisted, rattling off the largest numbers he could think of, trying - with no success whatsoever, in the end - to get Ignis to admit what he thought his time and energy were actually worth to him. In truth, Noctis knew exactly how much the chamberlain position afforded its occupant - in his opinion, it was a pittance. Ignis did so damned much for him, he ought to be making a small fortune. He'd asked his dad about it once and had been gently rebuffed: the salaries were set by a long-standing old law. Noctis intended to change that stupid law the second he had the chance.

He knew he'd been difficult all these years. Sometimes it was by accident, sometimes it was on purpose - but every time, Noctis regretted it afterward, and didn't have the words to make amends. He knew that what he was asking of his friends now, on this final push to bring their journey to a close, was something he could never hope to repay, even if he did succeed in bringing back the dawn.

But at least, he thought, maybe he could settle the matter of a small, outstanding debt.

\---

The center of Insomnia looked like a scene out of a post-apocalyptic horror movie - a mangled juxtaposition of the fiendish and the familiar. But somehow, as they battled their way through the ruined streets, they came across an intact bank building, the red BANK OF SPIRA sign standing out like a beacon amidst the wreckage around them.

He also noticed a familiar awning - the entrance to one of the underground break rooms formerly used by the employees of Insomnia's sprawling subway system.

"Let's take a breather," Noctis suggested, and no one had it in them to protest. Besides the fact that they were all exhausted from the nearly nonstop onslaught of daemons they'd encountered since their arrival, Noctis also had the feeling that despite the dire state the world was in after his ten-year disappearance, his friends were in no great hurry to get to the Citadel. They all knew by now what awaited Noctis there.

He appreciated their support more than he could ever say.

As his friends filed down the stairs, Noctis hung back.

"What's the matter?" Gladio asked, noticing immediately.

"I'm just gonna go see if there's anything to salvage from that building over there," he said, motioning with his thumb toward the bank. "It looks like it's still in pretty good shape."

"We'll all go," Gladio said decisively, pivoting to move back up to the street level.

Noctis held up his hands.

"It's right there. I can manage on my own."

"I agree with the big guy - we shouldn't split up," Prompto protested.

Noctis knew by the way they were looking at him what was on their minds.

He sighed.

"Guys, I'm not going to go face Ardyn without you, if that's what you're worried about," he said.

"The thought did occur," Ignis said for all of them.

"Seriously - I just need a minute. I'll be back before you know it. Just do me a favor and make sure our rest stop doesn't get overrun by daemons before I get to take a nap."

"Two and two, then," Ignis said, stepping up beside him. "Gladio and Prompto can defend our current position while you and I search for supplies."

Gladio and Prompto each nodded their agreement.

Noctis knew that he'd lost the argument, but he supposed that it would be better to do this in private, so he finally relented, and together they crossed the street and entered the bank. Ignis moved easily, with none of the hesitance that he'd had the last time Noctis had been with him, and Noctis's heart thudded painfully as he considered just how hard Ignis had to have worked to get back to a place where he could keep up with them all just as well as he used to.

He hoped Ignis knew how proud he was of him.

Hopefully this little detour would help him show it.

While Ignis made his way carefully around the perimeter of the room, Noctis headed straight for the ATM machine, still lit up against all odds. The power to the city seemed to still be on sporadically in places, and the bank was apparently one of them.

Noctis pulled a long-disused debit card from his wallet. It was a miracle it had survived everything.

He checked the balance on his account and found that there was still a sizable amount there - a wedding gift, his father had called it.

He touched the 'withdrawal' button and punched in the full amount. Most cards had a limit of some kind, but being the prince had had its perks, and one of those was that his card had no cap on it.

However, the angry little beep the machine gave him in response reminded him that the machine itself did have a limited amount of cash, and that his request had exceeded it.

Ignis's head snapped up at the sound.

"Noct? What was that?"

"Nothing; don't worry about it."

"…Where exactly are we?"

"Just… gimme a minute, okay?"

Ignis crossed his arms, but did as Noctis had asked - a sign of trust if ever there was one.

Noctis re-entered his withdrawal amount to match the limit on the ATM, and this time, the machine whirred to life and spat out a currency Noctis hadn't seen since they'd left the city a decade prior. A pang of nostalgia hit him as he rifled through the familiar bills, completely different from the gil they'd been using since their departure. 'Crowns,' they called the money native to Lucis. Noctis wondered if they were even worth anything anymore.

It was the thought that counted, right? It was kind of a symbolic gesture, anyway…

It was with that in mind that he made his way over to where Ignis was waiting for him.

"All set," he announced as he approached, and Ignis relaxed his defensive stance.

"Were you able to find anything of use?"

"You tell me," Noctis said, and he pressed the stack of bills into Ignis's palm.

Ignis frowned, gloved fingers running deftly along the top, then the sides, fanning them like the pages of a flip book.

Noctis could see him trying to puzzle it out.

"I'm afraid I don't understand," Ignis said finally.

"It's the raise I owe you."

"The..." If Ignis had been puzzled before, he was utterly baffled now. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I promised when I got to be king, I'd raise the salary for the Chamberlain position. This is me doing that."

He could see the indignant speech coming, so he cut it off before it could begin.

"I know you've never been here for the money, Specs. I'm not dumb. But a promise is a promise, and you've gone above and beyond…"

"Is this a performance review?" Ignis asked incredulously.

"Congrats - you passed."

Ignis let out a strangled little laugh.

"I should bloody well hope so."

Noctis laughed as well, and if it was a bit watery, well, who could blame him, really?

Ignis's hand tightened around the stack of Crowns.

"I do hope you know I'll be expecting these in regular intervals going forward," he said.

"Specs…"

"Defeating darkness itself will not absolve you of the years' worth of back pay I'm owed."

"Of course not," Noctis said, smiling faintly even as his heart was breaking.

"We'll write it up formally once the battle has been won."

"You got it."

They stood there under the buzzing fluorescent lights, facing each other for what Noctis expected to be among the last times.

"We should head back before Gladio and Prompto get worried and come looking for us," Noctis said reluctantly.

Ignis tucked the money away in one of the many inside pockets of his jacket and gave a nod of assent.

"Lead the way."


End file.
